Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Alizade / A member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, MP Rafael Huseynov, said on 18 September in Baku that all prisoners included in the list submitted to the Council of Europe have been released and the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan is finished.
The issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan was discussed during a meeting of the PACE Monitoring Committee which took place in Paris on 13 September. According to the PACE co-rapporteur for Azerbaijan, Andres Herkel, the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan remains unsettled. He paid special attention to the seriously sick persons amongst them.
According to Huseynov, Azerbaijan made a mistake whilst joining the Council of Europe assuming responsibility regarding political prisoners.
"I think that this document was signed due to lack of experience," he said. According to him, no international organizations consider former ministers as political prisoners because they are accused of concrete crimes.